


Into the Shadows

by Clioundra



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2003), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Near Future
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-09-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25018282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Clioundra/pseuds/Clioundra
Summary: Casey and April have done their best for their kids. Tried to keep them in the light because danger lurks in the dark. But when the danger reaches out for them, it's in the shadows that the three will find all they are looking for.
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The O’Neil-Jones family live in an insignificant town in New York State, near to New York City. Their home, on the edge of town, is a two story, four-bedroom house which was big enough for the five family members to not be in one another’s way, unless more than one person needed to use the bathroom at the same time. April O’Neil, the fierce but fair matriarch of the home, runs a small technical business in the town and her husband Casey Jones, a tall man built like a hockey player, runs the town's garage from a barn on their property. They aren’t big businesses but they make enough money for the family to live comfortably. They have three children, two girls and a boy.

The eldest was May, who is in high school. She takes after her father both physically and in personality. She has a boyish shape with shoulder length dark hair and blue eyes but is tall for her age. She likes sports and isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. She also has a temper, which combined with her rebellious attitude that came with being a teenager often led her getting into fights, usually with her mother and sister. But despite her aggressive exterior May has a good heart and is fiercely loyal and protective of her family and on more than occasion has caused physical harm to people who threaten or mess with them.

But there is one thing May Shadow O’Neil Jones hates more than anything; being caught. Especially if it was because someone ratted her out. She wouldn’t exactly describe herself as a secretive or sneaky person, but she figured it was normal for a teenager to do some things without adult knowledge. She didn’t smoke or drink or anything like that, but cutting class with her friends was becoming a regular thing.  
She had just gotten through the front door that afternoon only to find her mother waiting for her. Along with her younger sister Agatha, who was wearing a smug expression that shot a wave of hatred through the eldest.

Agatha is the middle child, nicknamed Aggie. Aggie is in most every way her sister's opposite, Aggie was a straight-A student with aims of becoming a biologist unlike May who hated school and rarely planned for anything. May loves sports and being outside whilst Aggie prefers to stay inside to study or watch TV which has resulted in her being a little overweight. She was born with their mothers' red hair and their father's blue eyes but recently she has been dying her hair blonde which she likes to tie into a stylish up-do. Combined with her love for long skirts and breezy blouses that matched her red rimmed glasses, everyone in town thought she was very fashionable; her siblings think she looks like a secretary.

Personality wise Agatha is definitely polite but also arrogant, often looking down her nose at people, especially her brother and sister despite genuinely caring for everyone around her. She loves being right and having control of a situation which is what unfortunately led to the trap she had created for May that afternoon.

Agatha hates the fact that May is trusted with more responsibility than her, just because she is the eldest. Aggie felt like May didn’t deserve to be trusted with anything because, in her opinion, May is venal (which is a slick word for someone who abuses trust) and Agatha would prove it at every opportunity. And she intended to continue doing so until either the unlikely situation in which May changes her ways or she is recognised as the true responsible one and is treated as such.

So if May didn't know that Agatha could clearly see her leaving town from first period English, it was only responsible to check the phone tracker to see where she went and make sure their parents knew.

“Where have been all day?”

May stands there stiffly, glaring at her younger sister. “No where” she mutters stubbornly. 

“Don't you lie to me May O'Neil Jones! You weren't at school again! Tell me where you have been!” April demands as she turns her daughter face to her. 

“I told you, no where!” 

“And I told you not to lie to me! I know for a fact that you went to New York city again!”

It wasn't just the fact that she is angry that got to May, it was the near blind panic in her eyes. Sure she was cutting school but it always something about the city that really got her mom riled up. For someone who married a born and bred Now Yorker like their father, April had a almost irrational fear of any one from her family being there. In May mind it was because when she in the city she was beyond her parents sight, beyond their reach, away from watching eyes that whispered her every move back to them. What May found liberating, April found terrifying.

“What! How did you-!” May eyes snap back to the middle child. “The hell did you do you little-” She started toward Agatha before their mother put a hand out to stop her.

“Aggie go to your room.”

“What?! But Mom-!” Aggie began to protest but April cut her off with a “Now!” And with a huff she stomps up stairs.

The red headed matriarch returns her attention back to her eldest with a deep breath to try and calm herself.

“May. I know school isn't easy for you and that's why don't want to be there but I have told you I don't know how many times that New York is dangerous-”

“That's just what you think! I always come back fine don't I?! Dad lived in New York his whole life before he met and he's fine!”  
April flinched at those words and how wrong May is. “You have no idea what you are talking-”

“But you do?! You heard something that makes you know better?! But you don't want to tell me?! You know what I think?! I think you want to keep me here to rot, in the middle of no where, in a town where everyone hates me!!”

“You....” April struggles to find words and then they spilt out without her control “You deliberately disobeyed me! Again and Again! How many times have I told you May! It’s dangerous in the city! You’re going to get yourself killed!”

Frustrated and hurt tears welled up in May’s eyes. “How do you know!!” she exclaims “You’ve never even go there!”

May raced up the stairs to get away from her mother. “You go to room and stay there young lady! You're grounded!” April snarls in an attempt to get the last word. She turns, snatches a pillow from the coach and screams into it.

When she pulls the pillow away she catches her husband trying to edge out the room.

“How long have you been there Casey?” she asks as her body slumps in exhaustion.

“I um just walked in at the end of... that. I thought I ot to give you some space babe”

“I just don't know what to do anymore, she fights me at every turn”

“Uhh....” Casey wasn’t sure on how to respond that. On one hand he completely sided with his wife about how dangerous New York is and keeping their kids away but he also completely understood his daughters need to be independent and frustration that they were keeping her from doing it and not telling her why. April means well but their kids are growing up and they can't keep them in the dark forever.  
April gave a hopeless sigh and collapses on to the couch.

“Am I a bad mother Casey?”

“What! No! Of course not! Why would you think that babe!” He sits next to her and wraps a comforting arm around her. “You’re the best mom any kid could ask for”

“May hates me…”

Casey lifts her chin to make her look at him.

“May does not hate you” he emphasizes “She’s a teenager April; it’s part of growing up. She’s just frustrated ‘cause you’re so overprotective and she needs some space”

“What!” April pulls away from him. “I am not overprotective! How am I overprotective?”

“You won’t let her go out for sports”

“T-that’s because she would hurt herself again! I let her play for the basketball team and she breaks her leg!”

The man throws up a hand “Hey! In fairness, that other kid ran into her as much as she ran into him! ‘Sides she was an awesome basketball player! Only girl I’ve ever seen that could slam dunk the ball-“

“Casey”

“Sorry. My point is that she liked playing and ever since the doc gave her the all clear she’s wanted to go back out there but your stopping her ‘cause you’re scared.”

“I let her ride her motorcycle to school, how many mothers do that?” Much to her mother’s dismay, May drives a second-hand Suzuki sfv650 that Casey had fixed up for her. The machine is May’s baby; the father and daughter would spend ages bonding as they worked on it which of course caused more friction in Aprils relationship with her eldest.

“It don’t really count when you’re driving right behind her in the car”

“T-that’s not me being overprotective; Aggie and Augi need to get to school too”

“.... Did I miss a couple of graduations or something?”

April told May to go to her room and stay there. May did one of those things. Unbeknownst to her parents, May had already snuck out of the house again. She had long since memorized the hand and foot holds which she could use to climb down and up the wall to her bedroom window. Once she was out she used the cover of night to walk her bike to the end of the drive and a little down the road so that her family wouldn’t hear the engine. 

After that she rode the bike as hard as it could handle, trying to get away from the town, from the house, from the schools meddling, from Aggie’s in-your-face perfection, from her mom’s choke hold on her life!! She would sometimes disappear with the bike and not be seen or heard from for hours just to come home to another shouting match with her mom but it was the only way May has to blow off some steam these days seeing as she can’t get any breathing space at school or even at home anymore. She is suffocating in that house!!

May stops at a crossroad a few miles outside of town. She tightens her grip on the handlebars to stop her shoulders shaking as she sobbed.  
Why couldn’t her mom just let her live own life?! All she wanted to do was play basketball and hang out with her friends. So what if she got hurt once she was better now! And her damned brother and sister, always ratting her out and making things worse just to make themselves look good. Especially Aggie! With that smug little smirk, it made May want to pound her four-eyed face into the dirt!

For a second she considered how long she had been stopped and calms herself enough to look up to see which route to take. Left would take her to the highway to New York City; right would loop her back towards town.

Another bike rumbles up next to her. Startled, May looks over at the other rider; her reflection in a black visor looks back. She tenses a little; it’s that creepy biker that sometimes turned up in town.

No one knew who he was or where he came from, but he was the only thing all the Jones children could agree on; they keep away from him, and they never mention him to their parents. Why? Because every time they saw him it was always within eyeshot of one of the three kids, for so long as any of them could remember. Their parents would probably shift the family to a different state if they knew that someone was stalking their kids. But they had agreed everything was probably a coincidence since they didn’t see him often enough that they ever felt threatened by him and he had never spoken to or even approached any of them. 

Till now.

May should have been scared or at least cautious, but right now she’s only angry.

“What!” she snarls at him. “Finally get the nerve to make a move! Well, I ain’t in the mood to deal with creeps like you! Get lost!”

What that she reeves her engine and speeds off back down the loop road, deciding that staying in bed and having no human contact until Monday was the best option.

Meanwhile, back at the house Augi quickly claimed the living room when his parents had moved to the kitchen to get themselves some hot drinks and headache tablets. In no time he had the game station up, headphones plugged in and was immersed in his favourite racing game.  
Augi, full name August, is the runt of the Jones’ litter. He is just the picture of his mother with her red hair and green eyes, though his personality is one hundred percent his own. His sisters were half sure that he was made of rubber and magic instead of flesh and blood because there were many times Augi should have hurt himself but somehow always bounced back up like nothing happened. 

He has been a full-blown gamer from a young age and his parents had encouraged it to a degree since it was the only way to get the boy to sit still for any length of time. His physical, mental and social well-being never suffered in the way most people would associate with video-game enthusiasts. It had the opposite effect; he was a slimly built boy with great problem-solving skills and even had trophies for winning track races at school but he is just so easily bored that none of those things really kept his attention for very long. He has a good-sized group of friends who he hung out with, usually at the arcade or at one another’s houses playing video-games. He did all right at school, he’s no top student like Agatha but apart from the odd missed homework here and there he was never any cause for a concern like May. But with that said he’s not very street wise and doesn’t have a lot of common sense so he usually hid behind May if he ever got into trouble. Because why avoid trouble when his big sister can just knock its lights out?

He knew he would not be interrupted anytime soon, Aggie is on her laptop in her bedroom and May has snuck out again. He never got how no one else in the house couldn’t figure out that the sudden quietness from his usually loud sisters' room meant she wasn’t there. But it’s fine with him. No May meant no one to bully him away from the TV.

Over the too loud volume of the headphones he could hear shouting coming from the kitchen but ignored it, figuring his Mom and Dad were fighting again. What he couldn’t ignore is the plate that flew past his head and smashed against the television screen.  
“What the-!” he exclaims. He pauses his game and yanks off his headphones.

“Mom! Dad!” 

He ran into the kitchen with full intentions of telling his parents that whatever they were fighting over wasn’t worth making him lose his game by decapitating him with porcelain. Except, when he got there he found that his parents weren’t fighting with each other like usual, more like they were fighting like in a Jackie Chan movie! Complete with ninjas!

Wait, what?

One ninja turns to him at the same time his mom sees him by the door. She grabs the guy and slams his head on to the countertop, knocking him out.

“Augi!” she cries out, dodging the strike of another guy and kicking him in the gut. “Augi! Get your sisters and get out of the house! Now!”  
“B-but mom-! What’s going-!”

“Do as your ma says kid!” shouts Casey from under the two guys he was grappling with. He braces himself against the ground and slams their heads together and tosses them at another group of guys coming in through the broken window. “Get the girls and get out of here!”  
Augi turns, scrambles up the stairs and bangs on Aggies door.

“Aggie!! Aggie!! Open up!” he shouts in a panic. Agatha opens the door with a glare.

“Augi what do you-!” She is cut off when her brother grabs her arm and tries to drag her out.

“We gotta go! We gotta go now!”

“What are you talking about! Let go of me!” Aggie grips the doorframe and pulls against her brother. 

“We have to go find May! Mom and Dad are in trouble!” Augi yanks on her harder to get her to move but she was being stubborn. Again!

“Get May?!” She exclaims. “Whatever trouble she’s in this time I don’t want to be involved! Why do I-AH!” Aggie cries out when a shuriken is suddenly planted into the doorframe. They look to the stairway to see two red and black ninjas making their way up.

Aggie screams. 

“They got past mom and dad!” Augi exclaims, shoving his sister back into her room and slamming the door behind them. 

“Oh my god! Those were ninjas! Real life actual ninjas! Oh my god! What did May do!!” Agatha hyperventilates. 

“Why do you always blame everything on May! Huh!” Augi says in a rare defense of his older sister as he hurries to move Aggie’s desk to block the door. 

The desk did little good since their pursuers easily shove it out of the way; the only reason they didn’t get in was because it slammed against the wall and stopped the door from opening all the way. The teenagers yell and back up against the wall as one ninja squeezes his way through the gap.

“Oh no you don’t!” 

The ninja is suddenly yanked out of the doorway, and they glimpsed their dad fighting with the group.

“Dad!”

“Daddy!”

“Guys get out now!” he barks at them before three more ninjas jump him from behind and they saw their father is wrestled to the ground.  
“No! Daddy!” Aggie tries to go to her father’s aid but Augi pulls her back. 

“Aggie we have to do what he said!” 

“But-!"

“We have to go!”

“How?! The only exit is blocked!” she shouts, trying to hold back tears. She is terrified. She just watched her dad, the toughest and strongest person she knew, go down! And she is confused, which made her even more terrified! Why were ninjas invading their house and attacking them! She didn’t even think ninjas existed before two seconds ago!

Augi hops on to her bed and opens the window. 

“We can get out this way!”

Agatha stares at him for a second with a look of disbelief. 

“You got to be kidding!” she exclaims.

“We don’t have time to argue Aggie! Besides May sneaks out of the house like this all the time!”

“Because May is the only one stupid enough to try!” 

‘And she’s a lot fitter than me and you,’ she thought but she will not admit it out loud.

It doesn’t stop Augi though; he swings one leg over the window ledge then the other. He hangs there for a second before he finds a foothold. Agatha watches from the window as he steadily climbs downward but halfway down he lost his grip and plummets to the ground. 

“Augi!” Agatha cries out.

“I’m ok!” he calls. With a groan he gets to his feet and looks back up to the window. “Now you!”

“Augi I can’t!”

“You have to! Don’t worry! The grass is nice and soft!”

Aggie sobs at the thought of falling from the second-story window, but she really didn’t have a choice. She screeches again when the door slams again behind her; she glances over her shoulder and saw that one ninja is worming his way through the gap in the door.

She turns back to the window and chucks her shoes down to Augi and did her best to follow him without slipping and she does it!  
“Yeah! You did it! I told you it was a piece of ca-AH!”

The ninja that had gotten into the room had jumped out the window and landed on his feet in front of them with no trouble at all. He has some kind of chain weapon with a metal ball on the end and is swinging it in circles. 

The siblings cling to each other and back up against the wall. The ninja moves to throw the chain, but something smashes him in the head out of the darkness.

“Get away from them!” May snarls slamming her helmet against his head again. She had caught the man by surprise and wasn’t giving him the chance to fight back.

“May!” 

The eldest tosses the helmet to one side and punches the ninja's face repeatedly until he fell to the ground, probably with a broken nose and a concussion under his mask.

Augi has never been so happy to see his violent older sister! 

She turns to them with wide eyes and panting. “What the HELL are you two doing!”

“May!” Augi launches himself and clung to her while Aggie stays by the wall, sobbing. 

“What are we doing? What are we doing?! Where the hell did you come from!” Aggie half-sobs angrily.

“Me?! ME?!! I just knocked a guy out and THAT’S what you’re asking!!”

“Guys! Stop-!”

More ninjas drop from above, weapons drawn and ready. May curses loudly.

“AMSCRAY!!” 

They ran for the wooded area that separated their land from their nearest neighbours, who live up the road, but they were no match for ninja speed. 

“Get off me!!” May howls at the guy who grabbed her from behind. She reverses them into a tree to get him off and kicks at another who tried to grab her from the front. 

“Leave us alone!!” Agatha cries, another ball and chain weapon is looped around her legs and she was clinging to a tree root to stop herself from being pulled away. August was the only one who had the speed not to be immediately caught. He ducks and jumps to dodge the mace-like weapon being swung at him. He trips over his own feet and without thinking hurls a large rock he landed on at his attacker’s head. Out of pure luck, it struck his temple, and he collapsed.

For a couple of seconds Augi couldn’t believe that he did that however the shouts of his sisters snapped him back. He picks up the ninjas dropped weapon and swings at the man with ball-chain weapon pulling on Aggie. He dodges the staff part of the weapon, but the chain whips around him and the spiked ball struck him somewhere on his back. He cried out, released the chain that was restraining Agatha and Augi strikes him again in the side of the neck. He collapses with an exclamation of pain.

Still bawling, Agatha slips her legs free then got to her feet with her hair and glasses mangled from the struggle. May stumbles out of the trees, gasping. 

“Thanks for the help, brats”

“Shut! Up! May!” 

August throws down the weapon and gets between them. “Fight later guys! We have to get out of here!”

He and Agatha start toward the wood again, May does not. 

“Hold up! What about Mom and Dad?!” she demands.

Augi looks back at her, but Agatha doesn’t even stumble.

“Sis’, they told us to go!”

“So you’re just going to leave them!”

“May-“

Agatha interrupts him with a sneer.

“Augi if she wants to get herself killed then let her!” She grabs his hand and drags him along.

“You seriously don’t care?! What’s wrong with you?!”

A loud bang and shattering glass sounds through the air followed by a hot wind which nearly knocks them over. They look back at the house to see the blown out windows alight with flames.

“Augi, let’s go!”

“FINE! Run away Aggie! I’m not leaving them!

May sprints to the front door while her siblings scurry into the dark. The heat slaps her exposed skin before she even reaches it. She kicks in the door and has to step back as a flash of flames came at her. She covers her mouth and nose with her shirt and leapt in. 

“MOM! DAD!”

There’s no answer. She hurries through the house in search of her parents. Getting to the second floor was out of the question; fire has swallowed the staircase. She tries to navigate around flipped furniture and smashed ornaments to find the kitchen, but it was harder to see or breathe than she expected. Her height meant that she was shoulder deep in the swamp of smoke on the ceiling. With a cough she drops to her knees and crawls to the first doorway she saw.

“Dad! Mom!” she calls again, but with far less volume. Where were her parents? Why the hell weren’t they answering her? The smoke alarms were going bananas, maybe they couldn’t hear her? Are they knocked out? A mental image of their limp forms sprawled out on the ground flashes in her mind, like they were… May shook it out of her mind with a shout. No! That wasn’t right! They were alive, she just had to find them!!

It felt like she had been in the burning house for seconds, but in the back of her mind she suspects it had really been minutes. Her nose is burning, and her eyes were watering. She pats the ground beyond her sight, hoping to hit one of her parents.

She curses loudly when she cuts herself on some broken glass. Making out the legs of the kitchen table, May uses it to pull herself back to her feet but couldn’t do much more. She collapses over the table-top.

“Dad… Mom!!” she calls one more time, more as a cry for help this time. She couldn’t see. She couldn’t breathe. There’s a loud noise, May wasn’t sure whether it was outside or her brain dying. Probably a bit of both. She has to get out. Her parents weren’t in the house anymore. May tries to remember where the back door was as she forces her feet to push the rest of her across the table. Her hand knocks something over. Something extremely hot. She curses again in pain.

She could just make out what it was; an old teapot. In the back of her mind May knows it was out of place but she couldn’t come up with why.  
Maybe it was just her oxygen starved brain making her delusional, but the teapot has to be something important! 

Now there’s voices, shouting… something. She can’t make them out. With the last of her strength, May grabs the wooden handle of the teapot and shoves away from the table. She hit the counter behind her heavily and manages to turn around when the back-door is kicked in. Firefighters rush inside.

Two of them grab her by the arms and drag her from the burning house. May allows herself to be carried, clinging to the teapot even though its hot surface burnt her through her clothes. 

Breathing is still hard even after she is pulled from the house. They place a mask over her mouth and nose as the firefighters relayed her to a bunch of ambulance workers in the front yard. They make her lay on the grass as they work on her; she feels like she is going to barf into the plastic mask. The paramedics get her to stand on her own two feet with some support, May's head rolls to one side as they lead her to the ambulance. Someone is telling her she had to go to the hospital; that everything would be ok. That didn’t match what she was seeing. A blurry picture of her home engulfed in flames, of firemen attacking the blaze with hoses. No sign of either of her parents.

May falls unconscious in the back of the ambulance with a horrible comprehension; everything is gone. Her, Agatha and August were on their own.

And she is still clinging to that damned teapot.

Now there’s voices, shouting… something. She can’t make them out. With the last of her strength, May grabs the wooden handle of the teapot and shoves away from the table. She hit the counter behind her heavily and manages to turn around when the back-door is kicked in. Firefighters rush inside.

Two of them grab her by the arms and drag her from the burning house. May allows herself to be carried, clinging to the teapot even though its hot surface burnt her through her clothes. 

Breathing is still hard even after she is pulled from the house. They place a mask over her mouth and nose as the firefighters relayed her to a bunch of ambulance workers in the front yard. They make her lay on the grass as they work on her; she feels like she is going to barf into the plastic mask. The paramedics get her to stand on her own two feet with some support, May's head rolls to one side as they lead her to the ambulance. Someone is telling her she had to go to the hospital; that everything would be ok. That didn’t match what she was seeing. A blurry picture of her home engulfed in flames, of firemen attacking the blaze with hoses. No sign of either of her parents.

May falls unconscious in the back of the ambulance with a horrible comprehension; everything is gone. Her, Agatha and August were on their own.

And she is still clinging to that damned teapot.


	2. Chapter 2

The police take Agatha and August to the hospital when they got word of that’s where their sister is. They’re made to stay in the waiting room as the doctors work on May. 

All the courage Augi had shown during the entire ordeal is no more. He clings to Agatha, shaking and on the brink of tears. It was almost like he was expecting her to run off too. The poor boy had never seemed more like the thirteen-year-old he is. Agatha has returned to the dignified façade, if not colder than usual. The only show of what she is feeling is the arm wrapped around her little brother. 

They couldn’t look at each other, instead focusing on the patterns on the floor and walls. 

A detective arrives not long after them. They had expected to see their parents with an explanation of what was going on. But that wasn’t what happened. The detective didn’t speak to them right away. He went straight to the receptionist to ask for the doctors treating May. Then he came for them. 

“Hey kids,” he greets them. He has aeep, rough voice. His tone is overflowing with sympathy for them. 

“Where’s Dad and Mom?” chokes Augi. 

The detective sighs. Aggie looks at his face; it's like an old, leather suitcase; worn out and beaten. The consequence of years of working in a field that demanded emotional distance. She could see the conflict in his eyes. 

“We’re not sure, son.” He answers finally. 

Aggie feels Augi twitch. 

“Right now, our primary concern is making sure you guys are safe.” 

They don’t respond. What were they supposed to say to that? The detective licks his chapped lips and kneels in front of them. 

“Listen, I promise we will find them and we will need your help to do that but right now I need you guys to take care of each other.” Agatha sniffs; the weight of what the detective is saying creating a crack in her mask.

“Where are we going to go?” 

"Your parents did leave instructions with us. They wanted you three to go to your grandmother if something were to happen to them. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to contact her-“ 

“It’s Friday; hockey night.” Aggie states. “You won’t get her until late. It may even be tomorrow before you get a hold of her.” 

“I see.” A bit of tension eases out of the lawman’s shoulders. 

“Well, we’ll keep trying to get her as soon as we are able but for now is there–“ 

“Detective.” A nurse has approached them. 

“May Jones is in recovery. You can speak with the doctor now.” She doesn’t even look at Agatha or August. 

“Ah, thank you. I’ll be back to talk with you kids, but these two officers will look after you. Okay?” 

“What about us? When can we see May?” 

Agatha turns to shush Augi but couldn’t when she saw the tear-lines running down her baby brother’s cheeks. She looks back at the nurse who is now looking at them with a irritated air, like she had noticed a foul smell. 

“Well, nurse?” Prompts the detective, too. Agatha could see that he was ready to confront the middle-aged woman if she refused them for no reason. 

“I’ll… look in on her and see if she’s conscious.” She did not appear to be happy to do it. 

“Good woman” 

As it turns out, May has been conscious for a while now and had been demanding to see her brother and sister. She is being forced to stay in the hospital bed, strapped to a machine and with an IV jabbed in her arm. It relieves the nurses when she calms down after she sees Agatha and August. 

“What happened to you guys! No one’s telling me anything!” 

May’s eyes are blood-shot and puffy and her nostrils were black with soot but she looks otherwise all right. 

“May!” Augi all but climbs into the bed to hug her. 

“I’m surprised you care about us May, after you left us to run into a burning building,” snarks Aggie. 

“I told you I was going back for mom and dad-!” 

“Break it up!” The detective and one officer followed them in. 

The little colour that had returned to May’s face drains at the sight of him. 

“D-detective Clearwater,” 

The detective approaches the bed while the officer stayed by the door, and the nurses left. 

“Good to see that you’re okay May” 

Augi looks at the two of them with a curious expression. 

“You know him Sis’?” 

“I’m not surprised” 

“Enough,” the detective gives Agatha a firm look. He turns back to May. 

“What’s this about you leaving them to run into a burning building?” 

In very May-like fashion, she refuses to answer the question until he asks again. 

“When I got home Augi and Aggie were being attacked by some guys outside. We were running for the trees when the house blew up and I realised Mom and Dad might still be inside.” 

“So you went to get them?” 

“I would not leave them” 

“Why didn’t you go with your siblings to call the fire department?” 

May glares at the floor and didn’t answer. She doesn’t enjoy repeating herself. 

Detective Clearwater tries another tactic. He pulls a chair up to her bedside, urging the other Jones kids to do the same. 

“That was very brave of you May, few people would have rushed into a fire as a first response.” May doesn’t comment. 

“But I have to ask; you said ‘when you got home’ where were you?” May’s pupils dilate a bit. 

“I was… out,” 

“Out where?” 

“I took my bike once around the town, okay?” 

“Anyone who could back-up that?” 

“No… The road cameras maybe?” 

“I see,” His face remains untroubled, but they could all tell that he was taking mental note of what May was saying. 

“And you say that multiple people that attacked you? All three of you saw them?” 

Augi springs away from his older sister. 

“They were ninjas!” he exclaims. 

“Ninjas?” 

“They were wearing masks like ninjas.” May and Agatha said at the same time. They share a disgruntled look and Aggie finishes. 

“So we didn’t see their faces” 

“I see. How many were there?” 

“Uh....” 

None of them had an answer for that. They replayed what happened in their minds and counted the men they remembered. 

“There was four guys attacking us outside,” May states confident enough. 

“I think there were two that tried to get into my room before we escaped out the window but there might have been more...” Agatha said, even though she wasn't certain. 

Detective Clearwater pulls out a small notebook and writes down what they are saying. He pauses when Augi says nothing. 

“August?” Augi’s eyebrows furrowed together, and his mouth turns down as he tries to remember what he saw. 

“I.... I don’t know, there were a bunch of them fighting mom and dad in the kitchen and more guys were coming in....” His eyes become glassy. 

The man studies Augi’s demeanour with understanding and slight disappointment. 

“It’s okay son. It’s tough to remember everything when something like this happens” 

Augi sniffs. 

“I should’ve helped them....” 

“August you couldn’t have done anything.” 

“He did do something!” 

Augi looks at Agatha when she claps a hand on his shoulder and looks into his eyes. 

“You did Augi. Daddy told you to get us out of the house and you did, and then you saved me again when I got caught. You were so brave.” She says with sincerity. 

“Yeah,” May reaches over and rubs Augi’s hand. 

“You did great little bro.” No one did anything for a moment, allowing the siblings to hold each other. The real severity of their situation had dawned on them.

A knock on the door brought them back. The siblings separate from each other and they all look to the door. The young officer standing by the door rubs his eyes with the back of his sleeve, before opening the door. It was the other officer outside. 

“Detective, the fire chief is looking to speak with you.” 

“Understood. Give me a minute to finish up here.” 

“Yes sir” She closed again, and Detective Clearwater turns back to the three teens. 

“I have a couple more question for you kids, can you think of anyone who would want to bring harm to any of you? Or to one or both of your parents? Someone from New York ?” 

“New York?” parrots Agatha. She looks at May out of the corner of her eye as Augi shakes his head. The eldest had gone pale again.

“Why do you think someone from New York would be out for us?” she asks almost as a whisper. 

“That’s where your family lived before coming down here, right?”

This is news to the three teens. They always knew their dad had grown up there, but their Mom too? And even them? 

May broke out into a cold sweat. All this time she had thought her mother hated New York because of some-kind of hearsay, but did she have a reason? If they had lived there before did they move here to get away from something? Had it finally followed them after over a decade? Was-was that creepy biker involved? Why had she never said anything...

Detective Clearwater zeros in on her and his face hardens a bit. 

“May if you know something you need to tell me right now,” he orders with the undertone that he would know if she lied. May flinches. 

“I-I don’t know who’d have it out for us but…” she looks at her brother and sister. Augi’s face begging her to say what she knew but Aggie was giving her a look of ice cold accusation. 

“But mom never wanted us going to the city, ever. And…. There’s this guy….” 

Now the detective looks very interested in what she has to say. 

“What guy?” 

“This guy…. On a motorcycle. We sometimes see him around like he’s following us…. We’ve never said anything to mom and dad about it, but I saw him tonight, on the junction between the loop and the highway.” 

The two law-men watch May speak with alarm at what she is saying. Agatha and Augi’s expressions change too, they know exactly who May is talking about. 

“Can you describe the man? Or the bike?” 

“Not-not much, the guy is bulky, always wore a leather jumpsuit and a helmet with a reflective visor. The bike's red, but I didn’t recognise the make, I think it was custom….” 

The detective turns to the officer. 

“Put a BOLO out for anyone of that description.” 

The young man ducks out the door as he pulls the radio from his belt to do as ordered. The detective looks back at the siblings as he held the door to follow him out. 

“I promise kids; we’ll find the ones that are responsible.” 

Then he left. And the three of them were alone. 

They didn’t look at each other; they said nothing. They allowed thoughts to swirl in their heads. Was there anything they could have done? Were their parents hiding from someone? Was it because of one of them they had been found? It was rare that the three of them agreed on anything. Yet in the future, they will agree that none of them had ever been as scared as much as when they were in that hospital

**Author's Note:**

> This is a bit of a rambling story that I come back to when I have writers block. I have two more chapters I intend to finish and add but advice, criticism and prompts are welcome!


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